


Oh The Places You'll Go

by frozenmorningdew



Category: Dancing with the Stars (US) RPF, Valdaya
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Love, Waiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2644604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenmorningdew/pseuds/frozenmorningdew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The road to love is not easy and quick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is all just my crazy mind trying to deal. I do not own anything.

It wasn’t just the looks or glances. It wasn’t just the way that his fingers lingered on her shoulders or on her waist and it wasn’t just the way that his lips seemed to automatically find her neck whenever he seemed to be going for her cheek. She had realized that it wasn’t just him.

She had tried to fool herself. She had tried to think of this as his admiration of her. His admiration of her being so young but oh so accomplished. Him admiring her maturity, her determination, her thirst of knowledge and her want to do everything to make him happy. But it didn’t stop. It never stopped. Their season had ended but they never did. She had been wary at first. She didn’t quite understand why he, a 27 year old man – _because that’s what he was_ , would want with a gangly 17 year old. An awkward girl who couldn’t even control her limbs and had hurt him more times than she could actually count.

But that night it dawned on her. She had gone out to dinner with him. It was just the two of them. That didn’t happen very often. No parents, no chaperones, there wasn’t even any paparazzi. It felt good, catching up. Talking about nothing and everything. Everything and nothing. But there was always that thing floating over her head. Why? Why was he still there, in her life. Basking in her light and allowing her to do the same with him.

When they got into the car, she couldn’t take it anymore. Months and months of wondering when it was going to end, she finally had the courage to ask. And in that moment, when he parked the car, she realized it. Her disproportionate limbs and tendency to stumble and hit everything in her way hadn’t hurt him. That scar she had left on him, that hadn’t hurt him. But with one look she could understand that him leaving her life, _that_ would hurt him. And it would hurt her too. She also understood that she didn’t quite understand _why_. This was all very new and overwhelming and _frightening_. But with one look, he understood that. So they reached an unspoken agreement. As she got out of the car, she knew that the right time may not be now but it will be.

_It will be._


	2. Part II

Waiting was never her strong suit. She was always fighting an inward battle with it. Never enough time passed. There was always a little bit more that had to tick away. She always had to grow up a little more

They never talked about it. They knew what they had. It had been a year. A year since the show and they were still doing everything possible to make each other the focal point in their lives. They didn't have to speak. They didn't need mindless chatter or "that" talk, which would probably be filled with awkward silences and stuttering words anyway. All they needed was to look into each other's eyes and they knew.

She knew there were other women once in a while. She knew that he went out, got drunk and made out with women in skimpy looking outfits that had had too many tequila shots. Just like him. She knew all this because he told her. Every time. And it wasn't him bragging. It wasn't him threatening her, telling her that she better get a move on and realize that he might be gone if she didn't tell him she was ready. No. This was his way of telling her that he was waiting. That there might be drunken hook-ups to release pent up frustration and sexual energy any man in his 20's might have. Because that's life.

And she knew. And she understood. Just as she knew that he understood her. He knew that her reluctance didn't come from a place of doubt. It didn't just surface when she got those late night drunken texts where he would, very sloppily, lay all of his emotions right the for her to see until Maks, Alex or Serge inevitably wrestled the phone out of his hands. It came from the fact that she was still, at least deep down, a child trying the best she could to fake her way into his version of an adult world. And he knew that. And that's why he would wait. And she knew him, hat's why she grabbed as many chances as she could to get to experience new things. So that one day she wouldn't be faking it in his world anymore. So that one day, _she_ would be his _world_.    

 

 

 


	3. Part III

She drew a shaky breath She knew Janel had been going through some tough times and she didn’t blame him for going easy on her. She wasn’t the same type of person as Zendaya was and different people needed different teaching methods. There were enough teachers in her family for her to understand that.

What she didn’t understand was the production of the show. How they could so blatantly edit innocent glances and moments of frustration into longing looks and burning sexual tension. Val and Janel were both good looking. Lets face it, they were _both_ hot.  She knew the audience loved a good showmance, that had been evident after last season. But she didn’t feel comfortable about it. Or maybe she didn’t feel comfortable with herself.

Zendaya had never thought of herself as dependent upon others. The fact that she, as a child, had been so incredibly shy but still so adamant in making her mark, had always fascinated the ones closest to her. She knew who she was and made no excuses for that. She felt in control. Most of the time. This was not one of those times. For the past two seasons she had watched him with fascination. Admiring the loyalty he gave his two partners and the love he had for them, absolutely wrapped up in every aspect of their lives. She had loves seeing that side of him. Was this season any different? No, it wasn’t. But this was the first time that she had seen one of his partners reciprocate his affections to this point. It was like they fed off of each other.

Zendaya hadn’t been there to witness his and Kelly’s season. Thank god for that he would always say. She had heard people talk about it though and she’d seen the videos, late nights scrolling through YouTube hoping that the way he looked at Kelly would be reflected in the way he looked at her. She realized soon enough that the way he _had_ looked at Kelly, didn’t hold a candle to the way that he _looks_ at her. And that discovery still makes her heart sing.

 But now she saw a look in his eyes. It wasn’t a Kelly look and it wasn’t a Zendaya look. It was a look just for her. And it made sense. They were friends, the were partners. They had spent the past three months wrapped in their own little bubble where his world became hers and vice versa. He was proud of her, of them, and that shone through.

This was the hardest part. This was the “being young” part. She had done and seen things. She was a boss, in every meaning of the word. She had control over things. She _needed_ control over things. The words emotions and emotional didn’t really resonate with her. But she couldn’t control the flickers of doubt, jealousy, and frankly, delusion that sometimes seeped through her veins. Feelings that made her feel unworthy of him because he _never_ doubted her.

But, when he smiled at her she knew, _she knew_ , that that was only for her. _He_ was only for _her_.

_And she was ready._


End file.
